


Start The Year Off With A Bang

by JjdoggieS



Series: Endless Celebrations [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ben Hargreeves Doesn't Die, Children, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, New Year's Day, Number Five | The Boy never left, Slice of Life, Teenage Parents, Time Skips, new year's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:21:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28485279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JjdoggieS/pseuds/JjdoggieS
Summary: New Year's Day over the years with Five, Ben, and Vanya's ever expanding family.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Original Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Number Five | The Boy & Original Character(s), Number Five | The Boy/Ben Hargreeves/Vanya Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves & Original Character(s)
Series: Endless Celebrations [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086560
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	1. 2006 - 2011

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fiveyaaas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveyaaas/gifts).



> In this AU, their kids don't have powers btw.

Growing up, the Umbrella Academy never had parties or celebrated holidays that couldn’t be marketed and sold to make Reginald money. So, when Five, Ben, and Vanya had their own kids, they made the choice that they would have at least small celebrations for every major holiday and birthday. They wanted each of their kids to feel special and have great memories of their family and their childhood (so, anything but the nightmarish childhood they’d had at the Academy for fifteen years. More on that later.)

The first ‘holiday’ they celebrated every year, if it could _really_ be considered a holiday, was New Year's Day. 

And for the first fourteen years of Five, Ben, and Vanya’s life as a family _outside_ of The Umbrella Academy and as a child of Reginald Hargreeves, their celebrations were just them and their kids. But over the last five years, they were slowly able to include some of their siblings (and later their families as well) in their celebrations and holidays. Some _before_ Reginald kicked the bucket, and the others _after_ the world was freed from his presence. 

2006

New Year’s Day wasn’t the _first_ holiday that they had with their son Oliver, but it was their _first_ New Year’s _with_ Oliver. And that was pretty special. It wasn’t like he’d remember anything from his _first_ New Year’s (or first anything, let’s be honest) but it was the mere fact that roughly a year and a half _after_ leaving the Academy, and Luther, and Diego, and Allison, and Klaus, and Mom, and Pogo, and most importantly Reginald, that Five, Ben, and Vanya had managed to build themselves a fairly good life. Especially since they were three fifteen year olds with a four, almost five, month old baby.

The night before, like the _decent_ parents they were trying to be, none of them were going to even _attempt_ to keep Oliver up. He was an infant after all, and they needed as much sleep as possible. So, on New Year’s Day, with Five and Ben’s jobs closed for the day, they were all spending the entire day staying in their little apartment together. (Vanya did also have a job, but was on maternity leave since the older lady that owned the flower shop was nice and understanding, and actually hired a pregnant teenager that she didn’t fire when she _did_ have the baby.)

While each of the fairly new parents wished that they would be able to at least _see_ and _talk to_ their siblings again, (which was a bit harder now that Allison seemed to be spending more and more time in Los Angeles than she did here) they also knew the risk of going back to the Academy or going near _anything_ relating to The Umbrella Academy, and it was undoubtedly not worth it. The chance that Oliver could be taken away from them, Five and Ben likely being forced to rejoin The Umbrella Academy, and Vanya getting shipped off to some boarding school halfway around the world wasn’t something they wanted to tempt fate with.

2008

When they had their fourth New Year’s Day after leaving the Academy, their third since Oliver was born, it was their first with their newest additions to their family, their three nearly one year old daughters, Freya, Nova, and Alex. While Oliver was nearly two and a half, there still wasn’t much that he would likely remember, there _was_ more that he could do. Which, namely, was talk and run around their increasingly shrinking apartment causing mayhem. 

And while Oliver would tell his parents the wildest stories his two and a half year old mind, when he was with any of his little sisters, he would babble on and on, mimicking some of the baby talk that Five, Ben, and Vanya gave Freya, Nova, and Alex. As much as Oliver loved to play with his little sisters, as much as he could with his one year old sisters, there was no doubt that Freya, Nova, and Alex were fascinated and completely entertained by their brother’s antics.

As they’d done when Oliver was a baby and _not_ the toddler, sometimes terror, he is now, Five, Ben, and Vanya put Freya, Nova, and Alex to bed at their normal times the previous night. But, unlike he’d ever been allowed to do before, Oliver was allowed to stay up an extra hour on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and was buzzing with excitement because of the New Year’s celebrations and parties going on in some of their neighbors’ apartments _and_ his preschool teacher Mr. Jones had been teaching his class about it before they’d gone on winter break back in December.

Oliver was excited about being able to stay up an extra hour ‘like a big boy’ for the entire night, as well as the majority of the day since Five had told him he would be allowed to after his nap mid-day. He’d been so excited about it, that Oliver had been going up to everyone he saw (which was just Five, Ben, Vanya, Freya, Nova, and Alex) and bragging about how he saw all grown up now and was a big boy. But it seemed, that all the excitement he’d had all day had spent all his little body’s energy and he crashed, on both nights less than ten minutes after his typical bedtime.

2009

By the time that Five, Ben, and Vanya’s ever expanding family had gotten to their fifth round of holidays and birthday celebrations, they’d moved out of their apartment that had gotten too small and instead moved out to the outskirts of the city onto a rather large plot of fenced in land, with a mid-sized farmhouse on the center of the plot. Their fifth New Year’s Day after leaving the Academy, was their biggest celebration yet; which just meant that Oliver was old enough to be trusted with a sparkler, with supervision of course.

Oliver, since he was three and a half, was given a few sparklers over New Year’s Day to ‘play’ within their now rather large back yard. Freya, Nova, and Alex, who were one year olds, nearly two, weren’t given sparklers like their older brother had been. (Especially when Alex was holding one and immediately started trying to eat it.) Freya, Nova, and Alex were playing in their backyard, staying a bit away from Oliver and his sparklers, all four being watched by Five and Vanya while Ben was sitting on their back porch with their three month old daughters, Reese and Cordelia.

They’d moved into their new house last year, between New Year’s Day and Valentine’s Day, and since then, Five had been planning all sorts of things they’d put in their backyard for their kids. A trampoline, at least two playsets, a pool, a treehouse, a playhouse, the list went on and on. And as large as their backyard was, it’s not like they had a _lack_ of space for everything, but Ben and Vanya had convinced him to wait until Oliver was a bit older before putting in the more older kid things, like the pool.

For now, they had an inflatable kiddie pool (which was emptied of water right now because of the uncomfortably cold weather to go swimming in), a sandbox, and a small swing set for their six kids to play with, mostly Oliver, Freya, Nova, and Alex since Reese and Cordelia were too little to play on it yet. Freya and Nova loved to play in the sandbox, often going back into the house in a light coat of sand, while Alex tried to follow Oliver around as much as possible, and Oliver didn’t seem to mind. If anything, Oliver seemed to like having one of his younger sisters following him around.

And as Oliver had done with Freya, Nova, and Alex when they were babies, Freya, Nova, and Alex would mimic the baby talk and babbles to Reese and Cordelia that Five, Ben, Vanya, and now Oliver did when talking to them. The layer of snow that coated everything was keeping their kids from playing on their various toys in the backyard, but had instead caused there to be a few snowmen of various sizes constructed, some plastic sleds to be strewn about the backyard, and Ben and Five were trying to teach Oliver how to pack and throw a snowball. Every year that they were able to celebrate another year and another holiday with their family was more and more special.

2011

As another year ended and a new year started, the fairly big Hargreeves family had another small New Year’s Day celebration, albeit that they’d been getting bigger each and every year. In the past year, there had been two new additions to their family and one major addition to their house. And each one was more exciting than the last. The first addition to their family was their seventh child and sixth daughter, Violet, who was only born a little over a month prior. Oliver, Freya, Nova, and Alex, with the new addition to their family, began acting much more like mature five and three year olds, knowing that their parents needed to be more focused on their two year old and one month old sisters than them; but that didn’t mean that they were perfectly well behaved kids all the time.

The second addition to their family was their first family dog. For Oliver’s fifth birthday he got a puppy, a little corgi, and named him Mr. Pennycrumb (with a bit of influence of Five, saving that poor dog from being named Mr. Fluffypants like Oliver, and Alex, had wanted). He’d been asking for a dog for months, ever since one of his classmates in his Kindergarten class had gotten one, and after months of asking, without any kind of warning to Ben or Vanya, Five came home from his job (he’d been working at some prosthetics labs going on four years, which was one of the bigger reasons that they’d been able to move to their bigger house two years ago) with the corgi and since then the Hargreeves family was going into their fourth month with the little furball.

The major addition to their house, one that Vanya and Ben had  _ thought _ they were going to wait until the kids were older, or at least until Oliver was six to get, was the rather big pool, with a slide, a short diving board, a waterfall, and a hot tub. They’d gotten a majority of their list of things to add to their backyard for their kids over the past two years, and the one major thing missing was their swimming pool. When Five had the pool dug into their yard, he also had a fence put in around it, with two locks on the gates, hoping that it would keep their seven kids that were five and under, from being able to get into the pool.

This New Year’s day, unlike the previous years, there was no snow still on the ground, and all their snowmen had melted away, leaving only muddy patches of dead grass behind. And unlike any other year, Ben had gotten the bright idea that they’d shoot off some fireworks on New Year’s Day once it got a bit dark, before all their kids would be in bed. While Vanya, upon finding out from Ben and Five that they were now collaboratively planning to shoot off fireworks that evening, was absolutely pissed off at them both; worried about how their kids would react to the loud noises or the bright, flashing colors, or the explosives being lit on fire and possibly burning some of their yard. But, when Oliver, Freya, Nova, Alex, Reese, and Cordelia were far more amused than scared of the fireworks, Vanya was  _ less  _ pissed off and annoyed with Five and Ben, not completely just less.

It had been a little over three years since three of the four remaining members of The Umbrella Academy announced that they were leaving. Allison going to pursue her career in Los Angeles. Klaus going off without a trace, same as Diego, although he’d at least mentioned his plans to join the police force. Luther remaining at the Academy with Reginald. Vanya had wanted to reconnect with them the day after they left the Academy for good, a few days after their 18th birthday, but both Ben and Five had been hesitant about reaching out to their siblings so soon, a fear that Reginald would somehow be able to drag them back to the Academy despite being adults.

After they’d turned 20, with Diego, Allison, and Klaus making it clear that they had no further connections with the Academy, Ben and Five we both much more willing to reach out to their siblings, but the only issues they had now, was they had no way to reach them. And had no idea as to how they would be able to get in contact with any of them. Especially Allison.


	2. 2013

“Dad? Papa?” Vanya called into the house, still not quite used to calling Five ‘Dad’ and Ben ‘Papa’, as she was pulling out the various toys, sparklers, and small amount of fireworks that remained from the previous night out of the paper bag that they’d saved. She could hear a heavier set of steps, one of an adult’s not one of their many children’s, walking towards the kitchen, so as she waited, Vanya poured some puffed rice cereal onto Tate and Liam, their seven month old sons’ trays, along with some sliced bananas. They’d only woken up from their post-lunch nap about ten minutes ago and were now having their snack before being set loose to roam the living room and playroom while their small ‘party’ was being set up. They were having a few of Oliver, Freya, Nova, and Alex’s friends and their families from their elementary school and Oliver’s soccer team.

Eventually, Five rounded the corner and entered the kitchen, Reese, Freya, and Violet following after him, asking a million questions over each other. “Hey,” Five said, quickly pressing a kiss to Vanya’s cheek, and then Reese’s, Freya’s, Violet’s, Tate’s, and Liam’s when they demanded one as well, before continuing “what’s up Mom?”

“Do you know if Uncle Klaus or Uncle Diego ever got back with either of you?” Vanya asked, sincerely hoping that either of them had replied to Ben or Five, in some way.

But when Five shook his head, she knew they hadn’t. “Not to me at least, but maybe one of them said something to Papa?” Five suggested, “I can go ask him.”

“No, no, it’s fine. I was just wondering.” Vanya said, hoping to  _ not _ convey the slight disappointment she had at that two of her brothers were likely  _ not _ going to be around for at least another year.

If the look Five was giving her was anything to go off of, she wasn’t concealing it as well as she would’ve liked to. But rather than needing to address that now, Freya, their oldest child in the kitchen at the moment, asked, “Mommy, Daddy, who’s Uncle Klaus? And Uncle Diego?”

They should’ve been expecting questions like that, especially since they were freely talking about two of their three uncles  _ and _ they’d been yet to meet either of them. But, the thing is, Five, Ben, and Vanya hadn’t figured out some sort of cover story yet, as to why their siblings weren’t around or involved in their lives for years  _ or _ how they were ‘related’ to them. And in the spur of the moment, Five told them that, “Well, Uncle Klaus and Uncle Diego are Papa and Momma and I’s brothers.”

While Vanya had barely been able to send Five a panicked look at his response, Freya responded with, “How does that work? Are you and Mommy and Papa siblings?”

Five, who was pointedly  _ not _ looking over at Vanya now, knowing that he was in deep shit at the moment, answered his daughter with, “Technically yes, Mommy, and Papa, and I  _ are  _ siblings, but that’s something you’ll understand when you’re older.-”

“Is that because you’re married?” Reese asked, only half paying attention to their conversation and more focused on making faces at Tate and Liam.

Taking the out that Reese had unintentionally given him, Five answered that “Yes! That’s why, because we’re married. And Uncle Klaus and Uncle Diego are your uncles because they’re our brothers.”

Freya looked unconvinced for a moment, looking at Five with a quizzical look before it melted into one of acceptance with a nod. “That makes sense I guess.” Freya said, which to a five year old that  _ just _ found out she had two uncles it reasonably could, “Do we have any other uncles? Or aunts?”

“You do actually,” Vanya said, “you have Uncle Klaus and Uncle Diego  _ and _ Uncle Luther and Aunt Allison.” It was weird saying that their siblings were uncles and an aunt when they possibly didn’t even know they had such titles.

“So, we have an aunt?” Freya repeated, getting a nod from Five and Vanya, “And three uncles?” getting another nod from Five and Vanya, “Cool. Can I go play in the backyard?”

Relieved that Freya’s questioning seemed to be done, at least for now, Five told Freya that she couldn’t because they were setting things up in the backyard that they didn’t want Freya, or any of their other kids, to accidentally mess up. Slightly disappointed, Freya asked Vanya if they could watch Tangled again (something that had been watched at least once a day since she’d gotten it for Christmas a little over a week prior), which Vanya told her they could and she’d be in to put the DVD in in a moment.

Freya, followed by Violet, walked back into their living room and bounced on the couch’s cushions until Vanya would come in. Five promised to stick in the kitchen with Liam and Tate while they finished their snack, along with Alex, who was still making faces at them and stealing a rice puff or two from their trays as she did. 

Before leaving the kitchen, Vanya reminded Five of the left over items for the kids from their festivities the night prior were out on the counter, and to clean up after Tate and Liam since they had people coming over. Once Five waved her off, reminding Vanya that he knew what he was doing, she grabbed Freya and Violet off of the couch. Reminding them to not jump on the cushions, or at least, not the living room couch, before sitting them both on a spot on the couch and starting Freya’s Tangled DVD.

Although they weren’t coming this year, or at least today, Vanya hoped that either Klaus or Diego would be able to reconnect with them  _ and  _ meet their kids soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages - 2013
> 
> Five, Ben, Vanya - 23  
> Oliver - 7  
> Freya, Nova, Alex - 5  
> Reese, Cordelia - 4  
> Violet - 2  
> Tate, Liam - 7 months


	3. 2015

“Cordelia Maria and Alex Parker Hargreeves,” Ben said, sternness heavy in his voice with a hint of disappointment as he scolded two of his daughters, “you two get off the banister right now.”

“But please be safe,” Freya called to her sisters from beside Ben, “Mom is gonna be _so_ mad if one of you gets hurt before Uncle Klaus gets here.”

Once Cordelia and Alex had gotten off of the stairs’ banister safely, Ben looked over at Freya with a questioning look, “Do you think _just_ Mom would be upset if one of you got hurt?”

And Freya quickly answered, “No, you, Mom, and Dad would all be upset.”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed as she walked past them, with Cordelia following close behind her, “all three of you get upset, but Mom’s scary when she’s mad.”

Freya walked off with Alex and Cordelia, just as Ben asked three of his daughters, “And I’m not?”

Cordelia turned back around and told him, “Nope!” before following her sisters into the kitchen.

He checked his watch, noting that Klaus was _supposed to_ be here nearly twenty minutes ago, and then the driveway, finding only their second minivan parked on the concrete, no taxi, no Klaus. Ben should’ve been used to Klaus’s poor punctuality by now, he was after all almost always the last one to be ready when they were kids, but nevertheless he was still a bit worried that their brother would flake on them. Even if he’d _just_ been there the day before for New Year’s Eve.

Ben moved from standing by the front door, knowing that if he stayed focused on Klaus and when he’d be getting there, he’d be doing nothing for the next hour or so (hopefully Klaus would be here sooner rather than later), and meandered further into their house, passing Nova, Violet, Tate, and Liam in the living room with Frozen playing on the tv. One of the sisters, Annie?, was talking to the snowman, that could also talk, saying something that had all four of his kids laughing as he walked through. Ben didn’t understand why, but it must’ve been a kid thing.

Ben continued walking through the living room, briefly checking on Five, Oliver, and Reese in the kitchen, who have recently been joined by Alex and Cordelia, as they tried decorating some sugar cookies that they’d baked that morning while their youngest four were napping while Mr. Pennycrumb was licking up whatever had been spilled onto the floor. The keyword there is _trying_ to decorate, and upon seeing the absolute _mess_ they were making, Ben walked past them and into the playroom where Vanya, with the help of Freya, was keeping Ariadne and Jordan, their six month old daughters, entertained.

“Why hello Papa,” Vanya said, likely having heard him walking towards the playroom before any of their kids, “to what do I owe this delightful surprise?”

Ben took a seat on the floor across from Vanya, picking up Ariadne as she crawled, in more like scoot than a crawl, over to him, as he said, “Well, your brother isn’t here yet.”

“My brother?” Vanya questioned with uncontained laughter, “So, I’m guessing that means that Uncle Klaus isn’t here quite yet?”

“Not yet.” Ben answered, “But I’m guessing he’ll be here soon.”

“Guess what Papa and Momma.” Freya said, looking between her parents.

Vanya asked, “What is it Freya?” still in a light fit of laughter.

“I love it when Uncle Klaus comes over!” Their daughter cheered, waving her arms around in the air from her seated position between Vanya and Ben, laughing as Jordan raised her little baby arms as well.

“What does Uncle Klaus do that’s so much fun Freya?” Ben asked, having to raise his voice to be audible over the bouts of laughter filling the room.

Freya had a big grin, her missing two front teeth showing as she did while explaining, “Well, Uncle Klaus is really funny. And he has the coolest stories about his imaginary friends. And sometimes, he can do this magic trick, that makes it look like he can fly.”

“No way.” Vanya said, giving her daughter a disbelieving look which melted away into one adorned with a small smile once Freya looked back at Ben.

“Yes way!” Freya said, “And, Uncle Klaus said that he’s gonna talk to Uncle Diego about getting his stupid, stinky butt over here, so he can play with us too!”

“Freya, you know how I feel about you using language like that.” Vanya said, reminding their seven year old that anything _close_ to swear words weren’t allowed in their house. At least for now, while they would listen to their parents.

Freya, realizing that she’d said something her parents disapproved of without thinking, put a hand over her mouth and quietly said, “Sorry Mom.”

“It’s okay, honey. Thank you for your apology.” Vanya told her, “I love you Freya.”

Now that Freya knew she wasn’t going to be getting in trouble, at least not right now, viably perked and lit up. “I love you too Momma.” She quickly crawled over to Vanya and pressed a kiss to her cheek, then crawling over to Ben as she said, “And I love _you_ Papa.” pressing a kiss to his cheek as well.

“I think I have a _special_ job for you Freya,” Vanya said, “if you’re up for it?” When Freya quickly nodded, nearly begging Vanya to tell her what the special job was, Vanya continued, “Well, I need a super special helper, to come let me know when Uncle Klaus gets here.”

“Why do you need to know when he gets here Momma?” Freya asked.

Vanya motioned for Freya to come over to her, and in a mock whisper told Freya, “So I can be mad at him for being so late and causing your Papa to be so worried.”

Freya giggled, told Vanya that she’d do it, and quickly ran out of the playroom. Once Freya was gone, and likely out of earshot, Ben asked, “Are you really going to reem Klaus for being late?”

“Of course.” Vanya said, “He needs to be reminded every once in a while that there are other people in his life that love and care about him. And besides, have you _see_ that mess in the kitchen?”

As fate would have it, Freya yelled soon after, “Momma! Papa! Daddy! Uncle Klaus is here!”

Vanya and Ben both stood up, each picking up either Jordan or Ariadne, and walking out of the playroom and into the foyer where Freya had opened the door for Klaus as Alex and Oliver standing nearby, both of their hands were dyed with blues and greens from the icing they’d been using. “Freya,” Klaus loudly whispered when Ben and Vanya rounded the corner, “I don’t think your Mom is too happy to see me.”

Freya nodded, and with a giggle, loudly whispered back to him that “She said she was mad at you for making Papa worried.”

“I see,” Klaus said, hardly being able to keep the corners of his mouth from turning upwards, “well, if that’s the case. Then maybe I need to get a watch.”

“You _have_ a watch Uncle Klaus!” Alex said, giggling as she did, pointing at the bright pink watch with white polka dots that Reese had picked for him for Christmas about a week ago.

Klaus, looked at the wrist that _didn’t_ have the watch on it, and claimed, “No I don’t, see? No watch.”

“No!” Oliver said, “Your _other_ arm Uncle Klaus!”

“Oh!” Klaus said, acting surprised when he saw the pink watch on his left wrist (covering the tattoo of an umbrella on the other side), “Well, would you look at that, I _do_ have a watch.” 

While Klaus had been hesitant about being around such young kids at first, citing that his drug habit wasn’t necessarily the _best thing_ to have around such impressionable people; after making a deal with Five, Ben, and Vanya that he wouldn’t come to their house while under the influence _or_ with any substances on his person, Klaus stopped by without warning on Christmas morning back in 2013. And since then, has made many visits to his favorite nieces and nephews, been at every school event, soccer game, dance recital, holiday, and birthday. Quickly establishing himself as their favorite _and fun_ uncle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages - 2015
> 
> Five, Ben, Vanya - 25  
> Oliver - 9  
> Freya, Nova, Alex - 7  
> Reese, Cordelia - 6  
> Violet - 4  
> Tate, Liam - 2  
> Ariadne, Jordan - 6 Months


	4. 2017

Unlike the previous two years on New Year’s Day, Klaus  _ actually _ arrived on time. But that was mainly due to the fact that Diego had drove him to their house. Much like Klaus had done a few years prior, once Diego took that first step at integrating himself into Five, Ben, and Vanya’s new life with their then eleven kids, he jumped in with both feet. And while he didn’t go to every single event that  _ any _ of their kids had like Klaus did, he was at every birthday and holiday, as well as the more important events in their kids’ lives.

And as quickly as Diego seemed to click with the kids, especially with Alex and Violet; the kids seemed to click with him, and were extraordinarily excited for when their ‘fun Uncles Klaus and Diego’ were coming over. Even Mr. Pennycrumb had taken a tolerance for Diego, not a liking a  _ tolerance _ as Five tended to clarify, and Mr. Pennycrumb didn’t like, or tolerate, too many people that weren’t a part of their family.

It was on New Year’s Day, 2017, that Alex may have unintentionally, (or completely intentionally, she was far too smart for a nine year old, but then again, she was Ben and Vanya’s kid, two of the smartest Hargreeves,) caused two of her uncles to pull their heads out of their asses.

“Hey, Uncle Diego.” Alex started, pulling Diego’s attention from the glare-off he totally  _ hadn’t _ been having with Mr. Pennycrumb.

“What’s up, Alex?” Diego asked her, lolling his head to look over at her instead of the corgi.

Alex, attempting to keep as many of her nerves down as possible, said, “I have a question for you.”

“Shoot kiddo.” Diego told her.

And when Alex asked him, “Are you and Uncle Klaus gonna get married? Or are you guys already married?” Diego nearly choked on nothing right then and there.

Sitting up straighter, turning to look at Alex, who looked a bit too much Five in that moment to be Ben’s biological kid, Diego asked, “What are you talking about Alex? Your Uncle Klaus and I aren’t married. We’re not even dating. And besides, I have a girlfriend, and he’s  _ not _ my type.” Diego whispered the last part.

But that didn’t stop Klaus, who’d walked into the living room with Alex and Diego at the most inopportune time, from saying, “Rude! Are you saying you  _ wouldn’t _ want a piece of this Diego?”

Ignoring his brother for a moment, Diego kept his focus on Alex as he asked her, “Why do you think that your Uncle Klaus and I would be dating?”

“Because.” was all Alex offered up, a look of annoyance and stubbornness on her face. Were they  _ sure _ she wasn’t Five’s? Because, that look and attitude was all Five.

“You care to explain any further babe?” Klaus asked, hopping onto the couch right next to Alex, causing her to bounce a bit, which lead to her forcing the frown and scowl to stay on her face despite it. Alex merely shook her head, keeping her gaze trained on Mr. Pennycrumb as he played with a tennis ball that had been left on the floor. “Come on Alex, I thought I was your favorite uncle? Won’t you talk to me?”

Alex glanced over at Klaus, then Diego, before moving back to Mr. Pennycrumb as she muttered, “Uncle Diego  _ was _ my favorite uncle.”

“Okay, ouch. I guess I deserved that.” Diego said, looking at Klaus over Alex’s head, trying to figure out what they were supposed to do, “Well, what can Uncle Klaus or I do to make it up to you? Since we’ve disappointed you.”

“Nothing.” Alex grumbled, “Just, go away, please.”

Diego, figuring Alex just needed some alone time to cool off, pushed himself off the couch and walked out to the backyard, quickly getting looped into showing Oliver and Nova how to do a flip on the trampoline. While Diego left the living room without another word, Klaus stayed with Alex, just sliding further down the couch from her, propping his feet over the arm of the couch.

Once Diego was gone, and Klaus and Alex sat in as near to silence as their house would  _ ever _ get for a few minutes, Alex’s glare softened into just a frown, sadness shading her features. “Cat got your tongue, Alex?” Klaus asked, relieved at the faint smile that appeared for a second.

“No,” Alex started, turning to face Klaus as she continued, “it’s just. I thought that. And you’re not. And it’s really.”

“I’m guessing that the ends of these sentences are really good.” Klaus teased, “Take a second, collect your thoughts, then tell me whatever’s on your mind kiddo.”

Alex did as Klaus told her, taking a moment to organize what she was trying to say before explaining, “It’s just, very confusing to me, how you and Uncle Diego act around each other. Because sometimes you act like me and Oliver and Freya and Nova and Reese and Cordelia and Violet and Tate and Liam  _ and  _ David, but other times you guys act more like Mommy and Daddy and Papa. It’s just really confusing, and you guys said that you’re  _ not _ but you act like you are.”

“I see.” Klaus said, “That just sounds super duper crazy Alex, it’s even confusing me. But, the thing is, your Uncle Diego and I are  _ just _ friends. And he’s got a girlfriend.” Klaus scooted closer to Alex, looking around the room to make sure they were alone, but more so to just to be dramatic, “Besides, I’m not even sure if he  _ likes _ boys the way he  _ likes _ girls.”

Alex nodded, looking like she could almost understand what Klaus was implying, “Like how Daddy and Papa  _ like _ each other, but also  _ like  _ Mommy?” 

“Kind of.” Klaus said, “Some people only like girls, and some people only like boys, but there are also people that like boys  _ and  _ girls  _ and _ people that don’t like boys or girls.” Alex nodded along as he briefly explained, absorbing his words like a sponge. 

“So, you and Uncle Diego being together means that you both would like boys, but you don’t know if he likes boys since he’s dating a girl right now?” Alex asked, which Klaus nodded in response to. “Does that mean that whoever you can ‘be with’ depends on if you like boys or girls or both or neither?” 

Klaus nodded again, carefully thinking over his words before saying, “To an extent, yes. There’s another group of people, that don’t like to be called a boy or a girl.”

“Then what do people call them?” Alex asked, her interest piqued by the new and interesting things her uncle was telling her, “If they aren’t a boy or a girl?”

“Well, people that don’t call themselves a boy or a girl are non-binary. Which just means they usually use slightly different pronouns.” Klaus explained, “You know what pronouns are right?”

Alex quickly nodded, telling her uncle that “Mrs. Brooks was teaching us about them. Like she, his, mine, yours, and them. Right?”

“Right.” Klaus confirmed, “And for people, they’re a little different. For girls, they usually use she, her, and her’s. And boys usually use he, him, and his. But people that are non-binary sometimes use another set of pronouns; so instead of saying she, her, her’s for example, they’d use, they, them, and their’s instead. Does that make sense?” Klaus was sincerely hoping he wasn’t giving Alex too much information at once  _ and _ wasn’t doing something that would upset Five, Ben, or Vanya. Which, he didn’t think it would, but there was still that small chance it would.

“Yep!” Alex said, hopping off of the couch soon after. She walked over to the door that lead to the backyard and called for Uncle Diego to come back because she had something very, very, very important to ask him about. 

Klaus, who’d assumed that she’d gotten over being mad at Diego for something a  _ bit _ childish, somewhat tuned out and mindlessly scratched behind one of Mr. Pennycrumb’s ears. But, what Alex  _ did _ ask Diego once he came back inside, complaining about how cold it was to Alex, pressing his cold hand onto her cheek causing her to squeal, had Klaus  _ quickly _ paying attention again. “Uncle Diego, do you  _ just _ like girls, or do you like boys too?”

Diego was looking about as surprised as Klaus felt, neither  _ obviously _ had been expecting her to just ask him that. But, then again, she  _ was _ one of Five’s kids, and they should always expect the unexpected with them. “Um, well I,” Diego started, “what’s it to you?”

“Nothing!” Alex said far too quickly if it was  _ actually _ nothing, “I just wanna know is all.”

“Well, if that’s the case,” Diego said, humoring Alex’s inquisition, “I’d say that I  _ definitely _ like girls, and I guess like  _ some _ boys.”

Alex, not hiding her giddiness as well as she might  _ think _ she is, asked, “Like, Uncle Klaus?”

“I like him some more than  _ other _ people.” Diego answered, which was fairly truthful.

“So, does that mean you and Uncle Klaus  _ could _ date?” Alex asked, perking up quite a bit, “If you got your stupid heads out of your stinky butts that is.”

The gasp, which was about as dramatic as Klaus was on a daily basis, from the archway of the living room which lead into the kitchen pulling Diego, Klaus, and Alex’s attention over to it, finding Five to be standing there, arms crossed, looking disappointed in all of them. Which, was typical of Five. “Alexandra Parker Hargreeves,” he said, beckoning his daughter over, and solemnly Alex got off the couch and walked over to Five, “you know how we feel about that kind of diminutive language being used in the house.”

“Sorry Dad.” Alex said, keeping her gaze towards her sock covered feet, “I’ll  _ try _ not to do it again.”

“Thank you, Alex.” Five said, then looked over from his daughter to his two idiotic brothers and asked, “What are you guys doing?”

“Just talking.” Klaus said, trying to avoid looking at Diego  _ or _ Alex at the moment.

Five looked between his daughter and his brothers, asking “What were you guys talking about?” as he did.

Before Diego or Klaus could make up some believable topic for them to be talking about with a nine year old, Alex said, “Uncle Klaus likes boys  _ and _ girls, like you and Papa. And Uncle Diego likes girls and  _ some _ boys. And Uncle Klaus likes Uncle Diego, but he wasn’t sure if Uncle Diego liked him back, or liked boys at all. So I asked him and that’s when he said he liked girls and  _ some _ boys, and he said he liked Uncle Klaus more than other people.”

After a second of processing the load of information that Alex just told him, Five said, “Wow. That’s a lot.” turning his gaze towards Klaus, who was denying some of the things that Alex had said, and Diego, who was more stunned than anything, and asked, “You two got anything to add?” And when neither Diego nor Klaus said anything coherent Five merely pulled Alex with his as he walked out of the room, telling her that her uncles needed a minute alone as they walked out.

Once Alex and Five were out of the room, and none of the other kids were running through the room, Klaus looked over at Diego nervously, not exactly sure as to  _ what _ he should be saying, an often occurrence in his life which he typically could fill with some joke or weird, slightly disturbing story, but in this instance, nothing came to mind. But, before  _ anything _ could work its way into Klaus’s head, Diego asked, “You wanna talk about that?”

“Not particularly,” Klaus replied, “but if you think we should talk about it, we can.”

Seeing as it was something neither would really like to discuss in their siblings’ house, with twelve kids running around, Diego said, “We’ll talk later.”

It wasn’t Diego or Klaus’s finest moment, being outsmarted, and set up, by a nine year old was a blow to anyone’s ego. But  _ especially  _ when you’re nearly twenty years older than them. Which, honestly, should’ve been expected when dealing with a kid that’s Ben and Vanya’s and raised by Five. All their kids were too smart for their own good; they could honestly take over the world in a day if they wanted to. And worked together.

Regardless, Diego needed to have a  _ very _ difficult and awkward talk with Eudora, and  _ soon _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages - 2017
> 
> Five, Ben, Vanya - 27  
> Oliver - 11  
> Freya, Nova, Alex - 9  
> Reese, Cordelia - 8  
> Violet - 6  
> Tate, Liam - 4  
> Ariadne, Jordan - 2  
> David - 5 months


	5. 2019

For the first time, since they’d had kids, the Hargreeves  _ didn’t _ spend New Year’s, or New Year’s Eve at their house. Instead, they’d driven to Las Vegas for the duration of the two days following Christmas for Diego and Klaus’s wedding which, of course, was on New Year’s Eve. Ever since Diego and Klaus had told them they  _ were _ getting married, Alex continuously proclaimed that they had been the reason that their uncles had gotten together. And their proclamations started once again when the invitation arrived in the mail. And a third time when Diego asked them to be their ring bearer. (Ignoring that Klaus had asked Reese to be their flower girl.)

Their family, as big as it was, had to be split between at least their two minivans but had elected to take Vanya’s jeep as well, hoping that giving their kids more space would have them be less likely to fight for a majority of the twenty-seven hour long drive. Five’s van had Oliver, Violet, Liam, and Ariadne. Ben’s van had Freya, Nova, Tate, Jordan, and David. And Vanya’s jeep had Alex, Reese, Cordelia, and Morgan. Vanya and Ben had been putting their seven youngest kids to bed, Oliver, Freya, Nova, Alex, Reese, and Cordelia were old enough to put themselves to bed, while Five was packing up most of the things their kids would need for the next week and a half in Las Vegas (Vanya helping him once she and Ben were done putting their kids to bed, as Ben talked over final, minute details with Klaus and Diego).

The Hargreeves family was able to start their drive by eight in the morning, having a few hours of peace as most of their kids went back to sleep after getting buckled into their car seats and booster seats, evidently none of them were  _ really _ morning people. While Five, Ben, Vanya, Oliver, Freya, Nova, Alex, Reese, Cordelia, Violet, Tate, Liam, Ariadne, Jordan, David, and Morgan, their seven month old son, were set to be driving for twenty-five hours over the next two days, Klaus and Diego had flown out to Las Vegas, a luxury that people who didn’t have four kids under five had, early in the morning on December 26th, needing to ensure everything was set up or at least in order for their wedding.

This was the longest drive they’d ever gone on, especially with  _ all of _ their kids; and since neither Five, Ben, nor Vanya had ever been taken on trips that were such long distance that  _ weren’t _ for things relating to The Umbrella Academy (or at all in Vanya’s case), there was some consultations and perusing of various parenting forums and crafting boards that lead to the creation of the greatest tool the Hargreeves parents would have for their road trip. But all these  _ details _ about their long, long, long drive is best saved for another time.

Rather, now it was the day, more so the morning, after Diego and Klaus’s wedding, and to say that every single one of their kids were utterly exhausted, would  _ almost _ be an understatement. Most days Five, Ben, and Vanya would be woken up by at least two of their kids by 7 o’clock at the latest; but on January 1st, 2019, not a single child trudged into their room (excluding Morgan, who’d been in a pack and play on their room’s floor) until nearly 8 o’clock, and it was only because Tate was too short to reach the Cheerios cereal box that had been left on a too high shelf in the kitchen. And once Tate had toddled into their room, one by one some of their kids wandered into their room, each asking a barrage of questions over one another. So, like they normally did.

And while Tate, Nova, Reese, and Jordan talked over one another, which tended to lure their other children into their room as well, Five, Ben, and Vanya got out of their bed. Five and Ben went into the kitchen/living room with their kids while Vanya got Morgan out of his crib and got him changed for the day.

Five grabbed a dozen of the many, many, many plastic bowl and spoons they’d brought with them while Ben pulled down two of the big boxes of cereal they had from the shelf that Tate hadn’t been able to reach and the two gallon milk jugs from the fridge, both setting their gathered breakfast supplies onto the little kitchen’s island. Falling into their quickly established morning routine while living in their hotel suite (because there was  _ no way _ that all sixteen of them were fitting into a regular hotel room), Five poured a bit of cereal into each of the bowls, more for their older kids and less for their toddlers, which was followed by nine of the twelve bowls getting a bit of milk poured into them by Ben.

Their hotel suite didn’t have a big kitchen table like they had at their house for them all to be able to sit together, it barely had a table big enough for Five, Ben, and Vanya to be able to sit together, along with Morgan’s high chair. The little square table that had already been in the room was used by the parents and Morgan, there were three smaller kids tables that were meant for their other kids. Oliver, Freya, Nova, and Alex complained at first about having to sit at kiddie tables but were quickly quelled by the reminders that they were only here for a week and a half, they were in Las Vegas and that they were there for their Uncles’ wedding. 

The little kiddie tables had different kid’s show or movie characters on them, the one that had been claimed as the ‘big kid’s table’ had Spider-Man printed on it, the one which had been deigned the ‘little kid’s table’ had a print of Hello Kitty on it, which had been Reese, Cordelia, Violet, and Tate’s table, and the third table, as known as ‘the baby’s table’ was Liam, Ariadne, Jordan, and David’s, and had a picture of Chase, Marshall, Sky, and Ryder from Paw Patrol on it. The tables (and matching chairs) were gotten at Walmart by Five, Oliver, Violet, Liam, and Ariadne once they’d arrived in Las Vegas on the 27th, and were grocery shopping for the week and a half they were spending in another state.

By this point, going into their 6th day of 10 of being in Las Vegas, they were in need of a small grocery run to last their next three and a half days. But that was something that one of them would need to do during the designated ‘nap time’ for whoever needed it; for now though, it was another task of keeping as much soggy  _ and _ dried cereal off the carpeted floor as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages - 2019
> 
> Five, Ben, Vanya - 29  
> Oliver - 13  
> Freya, Nova, Alex - 11  
> Reese, Cordelia - 10  
> Violet - 8  
> Tate, Liam - 6  
> Ariadne, Jordan - 4  
> David - 2  
> Morgan - 7 Months


	6. 2020

Allison, and by extension Luther, had jumped into being a part of their nieces’ and nephews’ lives as well as being included in Five, Ben, and Vanya’s life outside the Academy, similarly to how Klaus, then Diego had a few years ago. Ever since Five, Ben, and Vanya had shown up at their father’s funeral with their kids, all thirteen of them, and to say it was a bit of a  _ shock _ for not only Allison and Luther, but for Mom and Pogo as well. There had been little contact between them and the Academy, and by extension Mom and Pogo, for years, not wanting Reginald to find out, or worse find them.

Because they were unable to all be together for New Year’s eve, per Allison’s new ‘family time’ rule, she decided, more in a declaration and an actual decision, they were having a make-up New Year’s Eve party on New Year’s Day. All in all, it was rather redundant and unneeded, none of them  _ really  _ wanted to have one party (which Allison planned for while they were gone), let alone two. But it’s not like any of them would be able to convince her that they didn’t need, or want, a second party since she’d get her way, one way or another.

Despite her apparent fall from A-Lister Movie Star status, because you know rumoring your daughter and husband to make your life easier wasn’t exactly something they were looking for in starlets these days, Allison still had several parties she’d been expected to make at least appearances for New Year’s Eve, dragging Luther with her out to L.A., promising that she’d be ‘taking care of’ her celebrity obligations while out there. (Which, as they all found out the following morning, was her telling every news outlet she could find at the various parties, and telling them all she was taking some time out of the spotlight.) (Which had apparently not been evident by her near-total blackout of all movie, television, broadway, modeling, commercial, or any other media industry appearances over the past nine-ten months.)

Know though, with Allison and Luther, who was  _ quite  _ looking exhausted from their past 24 hours in L.A. living the celebrity life, having returned, had recruited Klaus and Ben, who was taking Diego’s place after he indignantly refused to help with anything with the ‘stupid party’ that he continuously proclaimed that he didn’t want to be going to, in setting up and child-proofing the Academy before Allison’s make up New Year’s Eve party. Evidently, Allison and Luther had thought it would be a relatively  _ easy _ task, regardless of the fact that their kids ranged from fourteen to over one year, and many of which had learned how to by-pass child-proof locks years ago. 

It was not an easy task, not by a long shot.

Even with Grace’s help, Pogo had disappeared sometime shortly after Reginald’s funeral (more Hargreeves Drama™ on all that shit later, because there was  _ a lot _ to unpack from that week), it took the five of them several hours trying to safe-proof a house that had never been meant to be safe for children of any age.

While Luther, Allison, Klaus, Ben, and Grace were setting up for their kid-friendly New Year’s Eve party, but it was really on New Year’s Day, Diego, Five, Vanya had been spending a good majority of the day at Five, Ben, and Vanya’s house trying to keep the mini mob of mini Hargreeves occupied, safe, and from fighting with each other, because you know, teenagers (and pre-teens), as well as keep Mr. Pennycrumb from getting too riled up by the general chaos that was a constant in their house.

Oliver, Alex, Freya, and Nova had been picking fights with each other all week, but  _ especially  _ today of all days, it's like they  _ knew _ they had somewhere to be soon-ish. Reese and Violet hadn’t been much better, egging on all the fighting and instigating a handful of the arguments, while Cordelia was going through a bit of a tattle-tale phase and was telling Five, Vanya, Ben, or Diego when any of her siblings were doing something they weren’t supposed to be. On the bright side, it seemed that Tate, Liam, Aridane, Jordan, David, and Morgan, for the most part, got along without much issue. (David and Morgan being toddlers that wanted to mimic their older siblings certainly helped, most of the time; as well as the fact that all of them could easily be distracted by Paw Patrol or Spongebob being played on the new tv in their playroom.) While Mr. Pennycrumb was often either the most or least well behaved ‘child’

By the time it had reached midday, a mere half hour before they were to be loading up into their cars to go to ‘Grandma’s house’ as they’d dubbed the Academy to their kids, pointedly not mentioning any grandfather they would’ve had (Not like the bastard deserved such a title anyway), Five  _ and _ Diego had had  _ talks _ with Oliver, Alex, Freya, and Nova, individually and as a group, along with several time-outs being implemented across the four by Five, Diego, and Vanya. And yet, nothing could get the thirteen year old and three eleven year olds to stop fighting.

That was, at least until, “Where are my  _ well-behaved _ grandbabies?” Grace  _ finally  _ got there. Their secret weapon. There was lots of running feet from various rooms in the house at the sound of Grace’s voice echoing, as well as various cheers of ‘Grandma!’ rang throughout the house. As Grace hugged each and every one of her grandkids, leaving kisses on the tops of their heads as she did, she asked them, “Now, somebody told me, that we’ve got some misbehaving kids around here.’

Needless to say, Oliver, Freya, Nova, and Alex had been quickly ratted out by their siblings to their grandmother; Reese and Violet’s names being thrown in as well as they all blamed each other for everything. “Well,” Grace started, a look of dismay displayed across her features, “I believe I need to have a little talk with Mr. Oliver, Mx. Alex, Ms. Freya, and Ms. Nova. Now, while I am talking with them, the rest of you need to listen to Mom, Dad, and Uncle Diego, understand?”

Once Grace got nods and some verbal confirmations from the other nine kids, she lead the four oldest kids that were now in some hot water into the backyard with her while Five and Diego were  _ trying _ to entertain Reese, Cordelia, Violet, Tate, Liam, Ariadne, Jordan, David, and Morgan  _ and _ keep Mr. Pennycrumb from chewing up and grabbing anything. And while Five and Diego were  _ attempting _ to do that, Vanya was having them get changed, brushing their hair, and wiping any visible dirt or other stains from their faces in either groups of two or three, depending on how old they were.

While Diego and Five were mostly distracting seven kids and a dog, and as Vanya was helping Ariadne and Jordan get dressed upstairs, in what they’d expected to be 5 minutes, 10 minutes tops, long talk with Oliver, Alex, Freya, and Nova. It wasn’t until nearly 30 minutes after Grace had taken them into the backyard to have a ‘little talk’ that the small group walked back inside, solemn looks on each of the kids’ faces. Right after walking back into the house, Grace was quickly pulled into a game of hide and seek that Reese, Cordelia, Tate, Liam, Violet, and David were playing, Morgan was pacified well enough by some light-up Elmo keyboard, Oliver, Alex, Freya, and Nova walked right up to Five and Diego.

“We’re sorry Dad and Uncle Diego.” Oliver said, the seeming leader of the little group as he was the oldest of his siblings. Alex, Freya, and Nova all quickly nodding as Oliver apologized, the light looks of guilt on their little faces, was telling enough that they  _ were _ sorry.

Especially, when Freya added, “Yeah, we’re sorry for causing you, and Uncle Diego, and Mom a bunch of unneeded problems.”

“And stress!” Nova pipped in.

“With all our fighting.” Alex said, “We know how important the  _ stuff _ later is to Aunt Allison, and we didn’t need to be causing you guys any more issues.”

Once Oliver, Alex, Freya, and Nova’s group effort apology was done, Five pressed kisses to the tops of each of their heads, despite their protests at the action, as well as telling them each ‘Thank you for your apology.’ and that he loved them while Diego simply gave them a nod and a short ‘Thank you.’, and as they did little looks of relief spread across their four faces. “Now,” Five said, regaining their attention, “I would like for you four to go get ready for Aunt Allison and Uncle Luther’s party at Grandma’s house.” He paused for nods or some sign of acknowledgment from his kids before continuing, “Then, once you’ve done that, I would like you to go tell Mom that you’re sorry. And, once we get to Grandma’s house, I would like for you to tell Papa you’re sorry as well. Okay?” Another round of nods, with adorned looks of slight disappointment, Oliver, Alex, Freya, and Nova waited a second before racing each other upstairs and to their rooms.

Five watched his oldest four kids run up the stairs until he lost sight of them before raking his gaze back over to Diego who, of course, had an annoying yet amused look on his face. Which  _ usually _ never meant anything good. So, Five asked him, “What?” 

“Nothing.” Diego started, but obviously from his demeanor, he wasn’t  _ quite _ finished. “It's just, you really seem to have this whole parenting thing down.”

“I’d hope so, I  _ do _ have thirteen kids and a dog to take care of.” Five retorted, giving his brother a smirk as he replied.

And, in response, Diego gave him a bit of a shove, rolling his eyes as he did. “Five I’m serious. We both know it's not like we had a  _ great _ or decent, example of a father growing up, but what you, and Ben, and Vanya, are doing for these kids, for  _ your _ kids, is amazing.”

Five  _ knew _ that Diego truly meant it, not an ounce of sarcasm or mockery that was typical for him was seemingly present. At least, not that Five could detect. And he was  _ pretty good _ at hearing and picking out the fakery and deceit that was layered and buried into his siblings’ voices. (Their public relations training as a part of The Umbrella Academy helped with that. Well, and the interrogation training.) “Thanks, Diego, it means a lot.”

“Alright, alright,” Diego said, “enough with all that mushy, feely stuff.”

Four speeding pairs of footfalls were heard on the floor above them, heading towards the stairs, followed by two more pairs of much slower footfalls from little feet, with one last set clicking behind them all. Oliver, Alex, Freya, and Nova ran back into the living room while Reese, Cordelia, Violet, Tate, Liam, and David were putting their shoes (and socks) on as instructed. As the older kids ran back into the living room, before Five, Diego or Grace could tell them to get their shoes, and socks if needed, on there were six little voices overlapping and repeating each other telling them to do so. And, it was repeated again, by ten voices instead of just six, a few minutes later when Ariadne and Jordan also walked back into the living room, wearing matching pink-purple plaid dresses that Aunt Allison had gotten them on her latest shopping expedition. 

By the time that Vanya walked into the living room, Morgan dressed and ready to go on her hip, their twelve other kids were all with at least shoes on, a handful with socks shoved haphazardly on, several on the wrong shoes on the wrong feet, some mix-matched, but did have shoes on their feet. Which, were their instructions. Vanya handed Morgan over to Grace while she and Five helped their kids fix their shoes, Diego getting some matched and folded pairs of socks from their laundry room. About seven minutes later, with matching shoes and socks on, they worked on loading the kids into their car seats and booster seats between their now standard mode of mass travel by two vans and a jeep.

They decided that Grace would be in the jeep with Vanya, David, and Morgan. Five was driving Oliver, Freya, Nova, Violet, Ariadne, and Jordan, And Diego would drive Ben’s van and would be driving Alex, Reese, Cordelia, Tate, and Liam. (By the way they had a caravan of vehicles anytime they traveled  _ anywhere _ you’d think they were some mini circus or freakshow or something.) But all they were doing was driving about forty minutes back into town and to the Academy, or Grandma’s house, for a New Year’s Day party. 

You know, normal stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ages - 2020
> 
> Five, Ben, Vanya - 30  
> Oliver - 14  
> Freya, Nova, Alex - 12  
> Reese, Cordelia - 11  
> Violet - 9  
> Tate, Liam - 7  
> Ariadne, Jordan - 5  
> David - 3  
> Morgan - 1


	7. 2021

Despite having well over nine months of practice, nearing a year at this point, the Hargreeves were still not quite used to having their entire typical school and extracurriculars and work schedules to be adapted to an online, remote style. It was  _ unfortunate _ that everything that was happening had to happen during Oliver, Alex, Freya, Nova, Reese, Cordelia, Violet, Tate, Liam, Ariadne, and Jordan’s first full year of being in public schools (having been homeschooled until Reginald died back in early 2019, fearing that just their last names being Hargreeves would lead Reginald to finding them), but it couldn’t be helped. There wasn’t really anything feasible that any of them could’ve done to prevent or stop what  _ was _ happening.

All birthdays and holidays were spent the following year on Skype calls with Klaus & Diego, Allison & Luther, and on occasion Grace (it seemed that since Pogo had  _ departed _ from his stay at the Academy, the typical maintenance Grace had been no longer receiving was causing a few malfunctions that one of them had to figure out how to fix). The first two months of only seeing their siblings and Mom, and for their kids their aunt and uncles and grandma, on their tablet screens was bearable, there was still a bit of excitement for the kids of not having to go to school every day  _ and _ the new tablets and laptops they had to share to do their schoolwork on and talk to their family. 

But, by the time they were dragging into the third month of being mostly cooped up at their house (it was a  _ very _ good thing that they had so many things in their backyard to keep them occupied and entertained), not only were their kids absolutely sick of it, Five, Ben, and Vanya were  _ about _ at the end of their ropes. It hadn’t been until they weren’t able to have Diego or Klaus or Allison or Luther or Grace come over whenever that they realized how ingrained their siblings and mom had become in their kids’ lives.

Upon receiving the email from their school district in mid-March of 2020 that at least the next two weeks of schooling would be online and all extracurricular would be unable to meet in-person, nearly 10 months ago at this point, Vanya called both Five and Ben while they were at work still, both about to be leaving for the weekend, and quickly gave them a summary of the email as well as telling them to stop at a few stores on their ways home to get school supplies, namely a handful of laptops and tablets, for their kids to be doing their remote learning. Within the next three days, both Ben’s and Five’s workplaces had been closed indefinitely.

Five, like their kids, had been switched to remote teaching from his university classes; which, as he claimed, only helped his ‘wasted time’ on his commute that he intended to spend on his research. (But, guess what, he got no research done. Which should come as no surprise to someone with  _ as many _ kids as Five had to take care of.) Similarly, the pediatric office Ben worked at, was closed for everything  _ but _ emergencies and was limiting the number of employees, like Ben, access to the building as well as giving all staff members limited hours. That would be a plus to everything going on was that Five and Ben were able to spend  _ a lot _ more time with their kids, like Vanya, who’d been primarily a stay-at-home mom since they were 19, right around the time Reese and Cordelia were born.

The few months that the house was mostly empty with all the kids, except Morgan, at either preschool or their new public school, Vanya was able to give short, virtual violin lessons over other adult’s lunch breaks and some half-day kindergarteners that parents wanted them to ‘get a jump start’. But, with all of their kids home again all day, it was just about impossible. And yet, despite her insistence to some of the younger kids she taught that she’d connect them with another, more available, teacher, there was still some kids, and parents, that only wanted  _ her _ to teach them. So, while Ben and Five were with their kids Vanya would have a set time once a day every weekday to Skype with one of her students.

As it was, at the moment, they were supposed to be getting on Skype with their family because Allison and Luther had some ‘big news’ that they needed to share with everyone. Oliver had gotten some game console, an Xbox that Uncle Diego had ‘lying around’, for Christmas and he’d downloaded Skype onto it, so, because Five, Ben, and Vanya had given Oliver permission to set up his Xbox in the living room rather than the playroom, it was what they started using for their near daily family Skype calls; since it was easier to just use the majority of the living room instead of having sixteen people and a dog fit on one computer camera, or even two.

“Dad! Papa!” Oliver was calling for his dads from the couch in the living room, most of his siblings also waiting for their dads, “Hurry up!” watching the connecting…… message on the screen.

Reese turned to Vanya, who’d been playing with Mr. Pennycrumb, the bigger but still little corgi, with one hand and was having her hand and fingers being pulled by Morgan with the other, and asked, “Momma, what’s taking Daddy and Papa so long?”

“I don’t know Reesie cup.” Vanya told her, “But, they should hurry their butts up, otherwise Uncle Klaus will tease them about it for a week.”

The tv screen loaded up four boxes taking up the entire screen, one box with them in it, one with Diego, no Klaus yet, one with Allison and Luther, and one with Grace. There were a few minutes of overlapping hellos, Ariadne and Jordan felt like it was important to greet every single person on the Skype call as if they hadn’t seen each other in years. Klaus had quickly joined Diego within a minute or so of their end connecting to the call. Theirs always took the longest just because they didn’t live in the city like Diego, Klaus, Allison, Luther, and Grace did.

As soon as Klaus appeared on the screen and took a survey of who was, and wasn’t, there, he asked, “Van, where’s Five-o and Benny?”

“Your guess is as good as mine Klaus.” Vanya replied, “They’re around here somewhere.”

“Maybe they’re, you know, doing the-” Klaus started, doing some weird gestures with his hands that they could only half see before Diego slapped one of his hands over Klaus’s mouth.

Allison was scolding Klaus for ‘making those types of jokes’ while the door that opened into their garage opened and closed again in quick succession, indicating that  _ hopefully _ Five and Ben would be joining them shortly. There were about two kids too many laying on Vanya for her to be able to check for herself, but the kids went from just saying hi and asking where Five and Ben were to oohing and ahhing over something a bit too quickly for Vanya’s liking. And if the looks on Allison, Klaus, Luther, or Diego’s faces were anything to go by, it was likely something she’d be yelling (not really) at them about later.

“Five, you’re an idiot.” Diego muttering that certainly didn’t help.

When Five and Ben  _ did _ come into view, rounding the edge of the couch, Five was holding a little crate, one like the crate that Mr. Pennycrumb had come in, as was Ben. “What’s going on?” Vanya asked, looking between her husbands, neither of which would look at her. Clearly, they were up to something.

“What’s in the cage Daddy?” Cordelia asked as Violet tried peeking into the crate before Five pulled it up so none of the kids were able to.

“Is it a present?” Tate asked, looking between Five and Ben.

Vanya could tell from the amusement on her siblings’ faces, the excitement on the kids’ faces, and the apprehension on Ben and Five’s, that whatever was in those crates would be  _ something _ she hadn’t thought about getting their kids or discussed with Five or Ben. “Can we open them, Daddy and Papa? Please!” Ariadne asked.

“Come on  _ Daddy _ let them open the crates up.” Klaus teased, eliciting a glare from Five, some scoldings from Allison and Ben, and a smack from Diego.

Ignoring Klaus’s  _ comment _ Five carefully lowered the crate he was holding onto the floor, beckoning Freya over to him. His daughter, their eldest daughter by seven minutes, made quick work of the fairly simple lock on the door of the crate. She glanced up at Five, waiting for permission, and once she got a nod from Five, Freya carefully reached into the crate and pulled out not one, but two little kittens. While their kids were excited about their new  _ pets  _ and their siblings on Skype, as well as their mother, were making comments about how cute they were; Vanya was leveling annoyed, nearly glaring, looks at both Five and Ben while holding Mr. Pennycrumb by his collar from jumping on the kittens.

And while Vanya was  _ quite _ annoyed with Ben and Five at the moment, they’d talked for  _ months _ before Five ever got Oliver Mr. Pennycrumb ten years ago, there was also the second crate that Ben was still holding to worry about.

“What are their names, Dad?” Alex asked.

Five replied something about them being able to pick their names, as Oliver had done  _ with guidance _ for Mr. Pennycrumb’s name, which, unsurprisingly, caused a bit of an uproar with the kids as they all started shouting names for their new kittens. And while their kids shouted every name that popped into their heads, Vanya looked back over to the tv screen where her siblings, and their mother, were obviously amused by Five and Ben’s little  _ surprise _ for their kids. Evidently, Vanya wouldn’t be getting much help from them.

There was a nail tapping on metal before Tate asked, “What’s in the other one Papa?”

“You want to see Tate?” Ben asked, already lowering the crate in his hands. At least when Ben lowered the crate onto the couch and had Tate open it, he shot Vanya a slightly apologetic look, until two little puppies, a black labrador and a yellow labrador, crawled out of the second crate; eliciting another round of awws throughout the room  _ and _ over the tv’s speakers from Vanya’s  _ quite  _ unhelpful family. As their kids started up  _ again _ shouting out every name they could think of, Ben, trying to salvage what had once been a calm _ ish _ evening, suggested that “How about you guys go into the playroom and write down four lists of names, and then we’ll decide on names? Alright?”

All their kids, barring Morgan, practically ran from the living room and towards their playroom, Mr. Pennycrumb, the two kittens, and the two puppies chasing after them; leaving Five, Ben, Vanya, and Morgan left on the Skype call with the other Hargreeves. The swift departure of their twelve kids, three dogs, and two cats certainly caused the room to feel like it had been suddenly muted, or deafened; which, obviously, it hadn’t been.

“I’m  _ guessing _ that all of  _ that _ hadn’t been what you had wanted this call-meeting thing for Allison.” Vanya said, bouncing the leg Morgan was sitting on as he laid against her, sitting in her lap, his eyes drooping nearly shut. 

Vanya focused on her sister and brothers and mother, pointedly ignoring Five and Ben’s  _ continued _ antics, although now it was to get her attention rather than being great, unauthorized gift-giving, dads to their kids. And Allison, as the only other girl growing up in the Academy for the first about fifteen and a half years of their lives, was also  _ quite _ used to having to deal with their brothers’ antics (more so Luther’s than Five’s or Ben’s) and took the rather obvious cue from her sister and started, “Right!” Allison was searching for something just behind the camera, and once she found it she continued, “Well, Luther and I have some important news to tell you guys-”

“You got married!” Klaus guessed, pointing accusingly into the camera as he barely kept in his seat.

“No, no, it’s, it’s not that.” Luther replied.

Then Ben guessed, “No, wait, you guys are engaged aren’t you?”

Which was also quickly answered by Allison, “No, it’s not that either.”

“Then what is it Allison dear?” Mom asked, looking  _ nearly _ the exact same as she did when they were kids.

Allison’s hand brought a plastic stick a bit too close to the camera, causing it to be blurry, but two little pink lines were telling enough. But, for the sake of their more clueless brothers, Vanya said, “You’re pregnant.” getting excited nods from Allison and Luther’s little rectangle on the screen. Once the overlapping excited chatter and congratulations had nearly stopped, Vanya asked “How far along?”

“A little over three weeks.” Allison answered.

And just like that, by August of this year, there would be  _ at least _ one more baby Hargreeves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next installment will be for Valentine's day. I hope you liked it!!
> 
> Ages - 2021
> 
> Five, Ben, Vanya - 31  
> Oliver - 15  
> Freya, Nova, Alex - 13  
> Reese, Cordelia - 12  
> Violet - 10  
> Tate, Liam - 8  
> Ariadne, Jordan - 6  
> David - 4  
> Morgan - 2


End file.
